


Treatment

by merelyafigment, visionofblue (merelyafigment)



Category: Oz (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Mostly Gen, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Shippy Gen, watch me fail at subtext
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:20:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27042634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merelyafigment/pseuds/merelyafigment, https://archiveofourown.org/users/merelyafigment/pseuds/visionofblue
Summary: Ryan O'Reily tends to keep an eye on things, always observing those in his vicinity. Which means he sees Miguel Alvarez training that damn dog, incidentally.
Relationships: Miguel Alvarez & Ryan O'Reily, Miguel Alvarez/Ryan O'Reily
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	Treatment

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Oz was full of bad language, homophobic and racist slurs and attitudes, misogyny, terrible attitudes towards many things really, bad deeds, etc. They were an offensive bunch, and any fic could contain those offensive things. 
> 
> This fic is fairly tame by Oz standards, mostly just terrible language, and Ryan thinking of pets as "it" and "things". Vague brief mentions of mistreatment of animals, but it's in the theoretical abstract, not specific instances. (I would never hurt Julie.)
> 
> Notes: This is set murkily sometime during season 5, most likely. I didn't really nail it down.
> 
> Edit Note: I edited this shortly after archiving it merely to change the title. I have no idea what to call this.

Alvarez was good with the dog. Like, he treated it _well_. Consistently, not just when his mood wasn't shitty. (Alvarez wasn't ever really in a good mood these days, unless it was with the damn dog.) Always patient and kind, never fucking losing that temper of his to yank it roughly, kick it, or yell. 

After Ryan stopped suspiciously eyeballing the things for twitchy behavior because seriously -- they could've been secret Narc dogs, he realized something. He wasn't used to seeing animals treated that way. Like, all the time. Not just sometimes, being sweet and slipping the things fatty scraps and acting like they meant something, until the owners snapped and went off on them. (The dumb animals still tended to stay. For the scraps.)

The way Alvarez treated his, calling it his dog, or by whatever its chick name was, and not his bitch like Penders kept calling his. Fuck, Ryan was pretty sure he'd heard Miguel practically fucking cooing at the thing, and referring to himself as its Daddy.

Alvarez was protective of it, too. Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around? The dog was supposed to be the tough growling bitch protecting its owner? (It did have the sense to bare its teeth at Guerra, so maybe that shit went both ways.)

Alvarez didn't just spoil it all the time, though. He was serious and stern with it, training it. Though even Alvarez's version of discipline was something else Ryan didn't recognize. It didn't contain violence, or threats, or even bribery as far as Ryan could tell. Fucking nothing. How he'd get the thing to obey him that way... but he seemed to be doing it. Somehow.

Didn't let anyone else spoil it too much either, though he did keep letting people pet it. He'd said something about it needing to be comfortable with everyone. To acclimate to different environments or something. (Poor thing was screwed if it was trying to acclimate here. Or maybe this shithole was the best test for it.) 

Alvarez was training it for a purpose, after all. Not to just be a fucking sweet cuddler. Not that that stopped Alvarez from doing that, too. When he wasn't calmly walking laps with the leash around Em City, trying to get the dog to lead _him_ , Alvarez always had his hands on it. Rubbing it and talking to it. Kept wrapping his arms around its neck, enveloping it. It probably wasn't for the dog's sake, Ryan figured. Showering it with affection, keeping it close. He even slept with the fucking thing in their narrow bunks.

Alvarez even looked different when he was focused on the dog. All warmth and joy. Like he was hungry for connection, for something to take care of. It lit up his face like a forgotten sun. He didn't look at any-fucking-one in here like that. Ryan didn't know the brooding Latino's face could even do that. (Or that anyone in here could look like that.)

The dog wasn't even supposed to be a pet.

It was a tool.

But it wasn't, because Alvarez still clearly fucking _cared_. It shone out of those dark eyes, gentle and full of wonder at having something warm, loyal, and real in here.

At a dog.

Mr. Not In Oz, who didn't believe in love in here, looked at a fucking dog with all his tenderness, all his pride, and all his serious gravity, too.

And he treated it well.

All the time.

***

End

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: I didn't anchor this to specific plot points (for one thing, Ryan gets very distracted very quickly on the show with Cyril), because I've not watched this show in many years and I have a terrible memory. I'm slowly rewatching it, but I'm back on S3. If/when I reach S5 I have a feeling I could possibly expand on this more specifically, but I won't know until I get there. That could be a while (or never) and I thought this worked as a stand-alone as is.


End file.
